1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns enclosures for housing and protecting electrical equipment of any kind, for example.
It is more particularly, but not necessarily exclusively, aimed at enclosures of the above kind designed to be attached to a support of any kind, for example a wall, without resting on the floor, and usually known as cabinets.
To be even more precise the present invention is aimed at enclosures of the above kind which, independently of any door, include a surround that forms their top wall, their bottom wall and their side walls and to the rear edge of which is attached a frame referred to for convenience hereinafter as the support frame, and a back which is pressed against the outside face of the support frame, preferably in a watertight manner, and with which are associated, inside the surround, for fixing the equipment concerned, support means suitable for fixing equipment of any kind.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When the enclosure is made of metal the back is usually welded to the support frame provided for it at the rear of the surround.
This is because the corresponding joint must be sufficiently strong to transfer to the back forces due to the surround and to any door with which the latter may be fitted.
What is more, the enclosure is usually fixed to a support by its back and it is therefore the back that directly carries support means suitable for fixing equipment, for example in the form of studs that are also welded to it.
The above arrangements, whereby the back constitutes the key component of the enclosure, the surround merely constituting a covering carried by the back, have proved satisfactory and may continue to do so.
However, they suffer from the drawback that an enclosure of the above kind can be painted only after assembly, i.e. after the back has been welded to the support frame of the surround.
One result of this is that painting must be carried out by immersion, possibly in association with electrostatic powder coating, in order to paint the corners of the surround in a satisfactory manner, in particular in the vicinity of the back. This is relatively costly.
The corresponding bath gives rise to environmental and pollution problems which can be difficult and costly to overcome.
What is more, before the painting operation is carried out the studs carried by the back must be covered so that they remain at least partly free of paint so that they can thereafter assure the electrical continuity function that is usually required in an enclosure containing electrical equipment. This is relatively costly.
The general aim of the present invention is to provide an arrangement that avoids the above drawbacks.